Abstract:
In 1965, the Asian-American share of the U.S. population stood at less than 1 percent having been held down by a century’s worth of exclusionary policies explicitly based on race. That was the year at the height of the civil rights movement and in the heat of a roaring economy that the U.S. government opened the gates to immigration from all parts of the world, Asia included. The effect has been transformative for the nation and for Asian Americans. Today they make up nearly 6% of the U.S. population. And in an economy that increasingly relies on highly skilled workers, they are the best-educated, highest-income, fastest-growing race group in the country.

This report sets out to draw a comprehensive portrait of Asian Americans. It examines their demographic characteristics; their social, political and family values; their life goals, their economic circumstances and language usage patterns; their sense of identity and belonging; their attitudes about work, education and career; their marriage and parenting norms; their views on intermarriage and filial obligation; their perceptions about discrimination and inter-group relations; their religious beliefs and practices; and the nature of their ties to their countries of origin. It makes comparisons on most of these measures with the attitudes and experiences of the U.S. general public and, where relevant, with those of other major racial and ethnic groups in this country. It also explores similarities and differences among Asian Americans themselves, a diverse population with distinctive languages, religions, cultures, histories and pathways to the United States.

The analysis makes comparisons between Asian immigrants and U.S.-born Asians, as well as among Asian Americans from different countries of origin. The report is based on a Pew Research Center telephone survey of a nationally representative sample of 3,511 Asian Americans conducted from Jan. 3 to March 27, 2012, in English and seven Asian languages. The sample was designed to enable findings to be reported about each of the six largest country of origin subgroups: Chinese Americans, Filipino Americans, Indian Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans and Japanese Americans as well as about the Asian-American population as a whole. The report combines these survey findings with a detailed analysis of economic and demographic data from the U.S. Census Bureau and other official sources.

Demographic characteristics; their social, political and family values; their life goals, their economic circumstances and language usage patterns; their sense of identity and belonging; their attitudes about work, education and career; their marriage and parenting norms; their views on intermarriage and filial obligation; their perceptions about discrimination and intergroup relations; their religious beliefs and practices; and the nature of their ties to their countries of origin. It makes comparisons on most of these measures with the attitudes and experiences of the U.S. general publicÑand, where relevant, with those of other major racial and ethnic groups in this country. It also explores similarities and differences among Asian Americans themselves, a diverse population with distinctive languages, religions, cultures, histories and pathways to the United States

Racial/ethnic classification was a self-identification measure, taiwanese were classified as chinese